Menu Sunday

Here's what's on deck to fill our tummies this week...

Sunday: White Chili Casserole

- from member Food & Wine on Tasty Kitchen - modified to 6 servings

Monday: Spicy Beef Kebabs

- Alton Brown, 2005 - The Food Network 

- will serve with Near East cous cous 

Tuesday: Green Chile Stew (Ground Turkey & Potatoes)

- Stew Mix from Central Market's Hatch Chile Fest

Wednesday: Zucchini Absorption Pasta

- from member Culinary Passport on Tasty Kitchen 

Thursday: Slow Cooked Puerto Rican Pork Carnitas

- from member The Noshery on Tasty Kitchen - modified to 4 servings 

As you can see, I've fallen a bit in love with Tasty Kitchen - mostly because I can search specifically for recipes centered around a key ingredient or method (more crock pot creations?  yes, please!) and then filter by those that have the highest user ratings.  I find this is a little more difficult to do on Cooking Light and the Food Network - my other two online go-to's.  TK really shot up to the top of my list when I discovered the serving modification tool... Now I can decide just how many leftover portions I'd like to get out of that originally-humongous casserole!  

And the winners from last week's menu line-up...

Samma's Stuffed Shells (here) - Modifications: I reduced the ricotta to about 12 oz and added about 3/4 of a packaged of thawed chopped spinach.  I also threw in some roasted Hatch chiles with the onion and garlic! 

Slow-Cooker Red Beans & Rice (here) -  Modifications: This turned out AMAZING, but did require some significant tweaking... Instead of smoked turkey sausage, I used Hot Chicken Hatch Chile sausage from Central Market's Hatch Chile Fest (cooked partially in the skillet before going in the crock pot).  In continuing with my Hatch Chile Obsession, I used roasted Hatches instead of the green bell pepper.  After putting everything in the slow cooker in the morning, I came home from work to find the beans were definitely cooked through but the mixture was quite watery.  Next time I would use 6 cups of water instead of 7.  The flavor was also a little bland (maybe because I didn't have the smoky taste in there).  I dumped the entire concoction into a pot, skimmed off a bit of the water, added a generous dousing of Louisiana chipotle hot sauce and some salt, and simmered for about 15 minutes... Absolutely delicious!  Moral of the Story: The Southern Living recipe was a great base, but it needed a bit more zip... Still an incredibly easy crock pot recipe, even with the 15 minutes extra of tweaking time!